Toothiest Dinosaur

Toothiest dinosaur found, according to articles in BBC News and New Scientist 3 October 2007. Researchers at Utah Museum of Natural History have studied the fossil of a 9 metre (30ft) long Hadrosaur named Gryposaurus monumentensis that was first discovered at Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. The animal had robust jaws with over 800 teeth. Terry Gates, one of the researchers who studied the fossil commented: "The snout is very robust indeed - it is much larger and much stronger-looking than any other duck-billed dinosaur. In addition, the angle of the snout is more vertical, which initially leads to a hypothesis that it had a stronger bite."

The researchers described the creature as a powerful chewing machine, but Gates also commented: "We just don't know what this dinosaur ate." Other fossils found at the same site include crocodiles, turtles, other dinosaurs and 20 previously unknown plants. These creatures are believed to have lived in a "warm and humid environment, rich in vegetation" and were fossilised when they were covered by river sediments.

Editorial Comment: Southern Utah can no longer be described as a "warm and humid environment, rich in vegetation". Such a climate sounds more like the world described in Genesis where the ground was watered by a daily mist. However, this pleasant environment was devastated by Noah's flood, which would have buried many large creatures and ruined the first world's environment. Following the flood God warned Noah (Genesis 8:22) that the world would have a harsher and more erratic climate with periods of cold and heat. Some regions, like Utah, have become deserts and can no longer sustain large animals. Altogether, Biblical creation, flood and catastrophic degeneration is a better explanation for these fossils.

We are also pleased to see scientists admit that an animal's teeth and jaws can indicate how it ate, but not what it ate. Creation Research has been saying this for many years. (Ref. ecology, diet, environment)